Is Our Cricket Protest Justified?

Posted on August 26, 2008
Filed Under >Syed Ahsan Ali, Society, Sports
19 Comments
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Syed Ahsan Ali

ICC Champions Trophy which was to be held in Pakistan in September 2008 got postponed to October 2009 due to the security concerns of not one, not two but four ICC members. New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and England remained adamant throughout negotiations that inspite of Pakistan Cricket Board’s remarkably well job in persuading them to visit Pakistan they have genuine fears regarding the security of their players.

Without any semblance of doubt, it is indeed sad news for Pakistani cricket. It left Pakistan as an unwanted place to tour and Pakistani players in limbo for having no cricket from last few months to coming few months. India surprisingly backed our stance with utmost proficiency otherwise this postponement could have changed into a relocation of venue to Sri Lanka. It alteast gives Pakistan half a chance of hosting this tournament again in 2009.

But as honesty demands, do we need to look for reasons for this reluctance on the part of international cricketers to visit Pakistan? Are we convinced that their fears are misplaced and unjustified? Pakistani cricket forums are trying to paint this reluctance as sheer hypocrisy of international boards. Many hold a view that few months back when Jaipur erupted with bomb blasts which accounted several human lives at the time of IPL, no foreign cricketing soul thought about hiring a cab to airport because IPL was a gold mine.

Another view is that by boycotting Champions Trophy in Pakistan they could make room for more T20 Champions Leagues here and there which provide far more lucrative options for sponsors, players, organizers and corporations.

May be all these allegations and ill-conceived notions regarding the security of foreign players in Pakistan are false and over-emphasized, but do we also think that their fears are based on mere profit-hunger and hypocrisy than on judgment and truth? I think not.

Aren’t we all Pakistanis carrying fears of bombings and killings while walking in the streets of Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi? Don’t we operate under a psyche of fear of being harmed in our mosques, roads, hotels and now even in the hospitals? So is it fair on our part for asking favors that can cost them their lives? So in my opinion instead of wandering for made-up sympathies and alien assurances, we need to bring our house in order first.

I hope the situation improves by October 2009 and Pakistan can sucessfully host this prestigious tournament.

19 responses to “Is Our Cricket Protest Justified?”

  1. Abhijeet says:

    If a cricket team does not want to play they shoudl not come. But teh tournament should not have been canceled. I agree with Harrinder that those countries that are willing to play should come and the tournament should be played.

  2. Kiran says:

    I totally agree with Sawan, this is all pure politics nothing else. It was all planned because everyone knows how much money Pakistan would have gotten from ICC and this championship. And instead of confronting these countries, our ‘mashallah’ PCB is showing interest in palying a series in South Africa, the first country to say no to playing in Pakistan. Way to guys!!!! When we ourselves donot respect Pakistan, how could we expect others to do so and know why this all is happening to us?? ‘cuz everyone takes us for granted….they know we are not gonna react….just stay this way and wont say anything. This is the reason why others have this kind of behavious towards us. We all need to get united and dont let anyone take us for granted.

  3. Harrinder says:

    This decision is not good fro cricket. Not just in Pakistan but everywhere in the world. A few cricket playing nations just try to their way in everything and are messing the entire game. I think countries like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka etc. which are usually targeted by this bigoted policy should stand together and even if others do not come we should come an keep the tournament going.

  4. Allah Wasaya says:

    I would also like to point out here that a lot of times football (soccer) matches in Israel have either been postponed or shifted to a another country because of growing terrorist threats. So its not a matter of the westerners being racist towards us of having some sort of a ghoulish agenda against Pakistan cricket, they just want to be feel safe

  5. Allah Wasaya says:

    In my opinion the decision to postpone the tournament was a wise one. At this point the only priority for Pakistan should be to put an end to these bomb blasts which have become a normal occurance in our country. As far as blasts in Jaipur and players still playing IPL, it was an isolated incidence and I am not aware of any terrorist group operating in India who would deliberately target westerners, those in Pakistan do. Also apart from cricket and crickters, tourism in Rajisthan did suffer a tiny setback by virtue of this blast. But anyway, Pakistan cannot afford to loose its credibility (whatever is left of it) all over the world, they have to start rebuilding it first in lieu of presenting an great opportunity to the terrorists by holding an international event at this torrid time where our amazing leaders themselves are admitting that the terrorists are winning.

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